You be the Judge!

A month ago Susan Arbios of Arbios/Praxis Cellars sent us an interesting article from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat about wine competitions and the wines that win medals at them. Here at Locals we happily note medal winners (mostly those that win at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair which is a useful benchmark for local wines, or the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition which bills itself as “The Largest Competition of American Wines in the World”).

We pay due attention to awards but are not overly swayed by them—on our list they often act as a way for patrons who are not necessarily familiar with the program here to get a foothold on the not inconsiderable number of wines we have available for tasting. A couple of our wineries no longer even enter their wines into competition. The best thing at Locals is that you can taste varietals in short flights side by side and… judge for yourself! Cheers!